A Question of Character
by kalina16
Summary: In which Hazel and Percy discuss recent events and are used pathetically by kalina16 to get rid of first-fanfic jitters


**Agghhh first fanfic ever! I just finished The Son of Neptune and loved Percy and Hazel, strictly as a brother/sister relationship. I was planning on writing something incredibly awesome and blowing everyone away, but I'm insanely lazy, so I ended up with this pathetic fic here. Sorry if anyone's a bit OOC, I'm new to this!  
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Hazel picked her through the hectic debris composed of shattered building, broken weapons, and, rather out of place, organic ding dongs. The raucous noise of the celebrating Romans echoed in the distance, and Hazel couldn't help but smile to herself. It had been a while since Camp Jupiter had celebrated like this; come to think of it, she couldn't remembered if they had ever celebrated quite like this. However, given the fact that they had just defeated Gaia's forces against nearly impossible odds, Hazel thought they had reason enough to throw a party.

She sighed deeply; her mind had yet to process all that had happened in the past days. Alcyoneus, her old nightmare, was dead; she was NOT going to die; Arion was hers to keep; Percy, who ended up coming from a Greek demigod camp, was now praetor; and Frank could turn into an elephant. Frank...she again smiled to herself. Frank was now her boyfriend. Who would've thought that her fellow demigod's taunts would end up coming true? Of course, those taunts no longer held any sting; in fact, Hazel rather liked hearing them.

Frank, however, was not the person Hazel was searching for at the moment. No, she was looking for her giant-slaying, ghost-drowning, newly elected praetor friend. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, not Neptune. He had disappeared shortly after they had left the party; she hadn't paid to much attention as she had been rather occupied with Frank. It had been awhile though, and Hazel was a tad concerned as to where her friend had wandered off too.

She paused at the top of a small hill overlooking New Rome. Despite the obvious wreckage done to the city, it was still an impressive site. Seeing the city alive and brightly lit gave Hazel a deep feeling of contentment. She had been so afraid that they would not arrive in time, that they would find the city reduced to a pile of rubble. She sighed and began to head down the hill, when-

"Looking for someone?" Hazel bit back a shriek and whirled around, hand flying to her spatha. But instead of seeing a bloodthirsty monster intent on killing her, she was met by a green-eyed, black-haired demigod sitting a few feet away. Hazel exhaled in relief, then gave him an irritated look.

"Were you trying to give me a heart attack?" She asked him, a bit annoyed. He rolled his eyes and flashed a grin.

"Really, for the most courageous female warrior ever seen by the Amazons, I would expect you to be a bit more aware..."

Hazel huffed."Oh, shut up." She flopped on the ground beside him. "What are you doing up here anyways? Roman celebrations too much for you?"

Percy snorted. "Hardly. You should see Camp Half-Blood..." he trailed off, looking sad. Hazel gave him a sympathetic look.

"I guess you're missing them pretty badly," she said softly.

He laughed weakly. "You have no idea." Then, glancing at her, he quickly added, "Not that I don"t like it here! I love Camp Jupiter, its just..."

"Camp Half-Blood is your home." Hazel said. "I understand. They're your family."

Percy smiled at her. "You're my family too, you know. You, Frank, Dakota, Gwen..."

"Octavian, Terminus, the laertes..." Hazel interrupted, grinning.

Percy scowled. "Ugh, no! Well, maybe Terminus...maybe. He _did_ help me defeat a giant bent on torturing me for the rest of my life, so I guess that counts for something." Hazel laughed. "As for Octavian," Percy continued, "I think he'd rather use me for the augurie before he counted me as family."

Hazel sighed. "That's Octavian for you. Treacherous little sneak." She paused, remembering the dark looks he had given Percy. "You need to keep an eye on him though. I doubt your becoming praetor will keep him away from you."

Percy sighed. "Yeah, I figured. Can't catch a break, can I?" He shifted a bit anxiously. "To be honest, I can't wait for the Argo II to get here. The sooner we're on our way, the better."

Hazel nodded, thinking of Gaea's voice, haunting her dreams, each day growing stronger. "For sure. Straight to Rome. Out of the frying pan and into the fire..." she trailed off, remembering something that had been nagging her for a while. "This whole prophecy of the seven thing..."

"Rachel's prophecy?"

It took Hazel a minute to remember who Rachel was. "Yeah, that one. Did you mean what you said about me being one of the seven? Because I'm sure there are plenty of better Roman fighters who would love to come..."

"Hazel-"

But Hazel kept talking. "I mean, I'm probably the youngest person here, and I'm technically supposed to be dead-"

"Hazel."

"And I'm not nearly as powerful as you, or Frank, or Reyna, and I make cursed treasure pop up everywhere that'll probably get one of us killed-"

"_Hazel_."

"And I raised one of the most dangerous giants in history because I was to weak to stand up to my mom, and what if Gaea uses me again, except with Nico this time, I don't know what I'd do-"

"HAZEL!" Percy finally yelled, silencing Hazel's rather uncharacteristic rant. "Sorry. But really? You don't think you're good enough for this quest?"

Hazel stared at the ground, a bit ashamed at her outburst. "Well, yeah...maybe a little..."

Percy shifted so that he was facing her, his green eyes gazing at her intently. "Hazel Levesque, take it from me, you are one of the best people for this quest, and by far one of the bravest people I know."

"But-"

"No denials. Anyone who can tame an insanely powerful psycotic horse, hang Amazon warriors upside down using _bracelets,_ find and create tunnels without thinking, and stand up to one of the most powerful, terrifying people ever to exist, is definitely more than capable of taking on this quest." He grinned at her. "Besides, you were probably the calmest one on our little suicide mission to Alaska. Made me and Frank look like a couple of worrywarts."

Hazel laughed, returning his grin. "You had plenty of reason to be one. And thank you...but trust me, you're making that sound a lot cooler than it is. Especially considering all the amazing things you've done."

Percy snorted. "_Everything_ always sounds cooler than it really is, Hazel. Believe me, you and I are pretty much equal on the 'cool' scale." He smiled, then grew more serious. "And I swear, Hazel, we'll get Nico back. Gaea won't have a chance to use him against you."

Hazel stared at him, seeing the obvious determination in his eyes. "I'll hold you too that then," she said. "I don't know what'd I'd do if something happened to him..."

"Well I hope you're okay with him being a bit beat up after we save him," Percy said, sounding irritated. " 'I've never met you'. Yeah right, the little liar."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sure he had a good reason." She rose from the ground, stretching. "Come on, we should probably get back. We don't want anyone thinking the newest praetor was dragged off by a bunch of monsters."

Percy stood up too. "Yes, and we wouldn't want Frank missing his new girlfriend for too long either," he said, shooting her an evil grin.

Hazel turned red. "Oh shut up, you... you kelp head!" They headed back to the city, playfully trading insults all the way. And Hazel couldn't help but feel that despite the trials and danger that lay ahead, that right now, everything was just right.


End file.
